


The Biologist and the Firefighter

by omgericzimmermann (HMSLusitania)



Series: The Samwell Irregulars [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Blowjobs, Grindr, M/M, nothing bad happens i promise, the first backstory piece of the superhero au i'm working on, wingman references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:35:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSLusitania/pseuds/omgericzimmermann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justin Oluransi is definitely not the first Samwell Institute scientist to blow up his lab (not even the first this month) but he is the first biologist. </p><p>He likes to think it has nothing to do with the unnecessarily hot firefighter who's been responding to all their calls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Biologist and the Firefighter

**Author's Note:**

> So this is part of a superhero AU I'm working on. The majority of the story will focus on Dex and Nursey because I'm that particular brand of trash, but it will be an ensemble drama, so I've taken to writing bits of the backstory. All the important elements will show up in the story proper once I get around to that, but I thought it would be fun to share these bits too. 
> 
> As an aside, I typically hate/can't read firefighter AUs even when they're not as distressing as Wingman, because my dad is a firefighter and people get so so many essential details wrong. But maybe I'm just being pedantic or maybe my dad's department is just weird.

Justin Oluransi is by absolutely no means the first scientist at the Samwell Institute to accidentally blow up his lab. Only three weeks earlier, Jenny and Mandy down in particle physics had blown something up, and one of the other men in Justin’s lab, Will Poindexter (mechanical engineering), had accidentally soldered a – well, Justin wasn’t really sure what it was, but he thinks magnesium was involved, and they’d needed to call the fire department.

And maybe Justin had been paying too much attention to the fire department closest to them after that, because one of their lieutenants was…

Well, he was six foot four and blond and had this ridiculous dimple in his chin and Justin had only ever seen him in his turnouts, but oh god how badly he wanted to see him in something else. Justin did not intentionally explode his lab, he wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last, but he was absolutely the first biologist.

This is how he finds himself sitting on the tailgate of an ambulance breathing into an oxygen mask while the unnecessarily hot firefighter stands a few feet away conferring with their director. He’s taken off his turnout coat, which is maybe Justin’s new favourite thing, because his t-shirt looks a little too small and the man looks damn fine in navy blue and he’s got an IAFF logo tattooed on the back of his triceps and _Jesus_.

“Now, how are my favourite lab monkeys?” the unnecessarily hot firefighter asks, coming over to the ambulance. Poindexter is sitting next to him with his own oxygen mask, Justin remembers. The third man in their lab, Derek Nurse (astrophysics) is leaning casually against the back of the vehicle since he hadn’t actually been in the lab when Justin caught it on fire.

“Can we go back to work yet?” Poindexter asks.

“Director Zimmermann says the cleaning crew is going through your lab first,” the unnecessarily hot firefighter replies. “But we’ll let you know.”

The four of them look over at the building of Samwell Institute. One of the windows is gently smoking and Justin knows it’s his own damn lab because he’s stupid. Well, no, he’s not stupid, he has a PhD from Stanford, but he’s apparently an idiot.  

“This is the third time in three weeks," the unnecessarily hot firefighter says. “What are you guys doing in there?”

“Mandy and Jenny are trying to create a black hole to destroy the known universe,” Nurse says. “Dexy introduced an alkaline earth metal to water by accident, and I have literally no idea what Justin did.”

“You’re Justin?” the unnecessarily hot firefighter asks, looking down at Justin with an amused expression.

“Oluransi, yeah,” Justin agrees, offering the unnecessarily hot firefighter his hand to shake.

“Birkholtz,” the unnecessarily hot firefighter says. “Adam.”

Surreptitiously, Justin checks for a wedding ring and finds Adam Birkholtz’s left hand comfortably empty. And there’s no way he’s imagining how much Adam’s checking him out, because it’s really fucking blatant.

“I feel bad that we’ve dragged you out here so many times recently,” Justin says while Adam takes back the oxygen mask. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee to make up for it?”

“Sure,” Adam says, smiling while he takes Poindexter’s mask as well. “I get off at eight tomorrow morning.”

“You’re over at station 25?” Justin asks.

“That’s the one,” Adam agrees. “I’ll see you at eight o five?”

Justin agrees and the firefighters leave, letting the three of them retreat to their lab.

“How?” Poindexter asks. “You’re covered in soot from an explosion _you_ caused and you got a date out of it?”

“Sorry boys, I’ve got game, unlike you nerds,” Justin says.

“We’re the nerds?” Nurse asks. “As opposed to you, who did your dissertation on protein replication?”

Justin doesn’t rise to the bait because he knows if he corrects Nurse about minutia, he’ll be chirped into the next century for calling them nerds.

He puts a little too much effort into his appearance the next morning. It’s Saturday so he doesn’t have to be at work, so he takes the extra time to shave, to put on aftershave, to make sure his shirt is ironed and that he’s not covered in soot.

When he gets to the fire station, Adam Birkholtz is leaning against a motorcycle with headphones in, very clearly waiting for him. Justin really hopes the motorcycle is his. Then he starts to wonder what firefighters listen to. Is it the same sort of music the rest of them listen to? Is it more rock music? Is it something super intense and full of adrenaline and shredding guitar riffs?

“Hey!” Justin says, lifting his hand and then regretting it because what the fuck is he doing? Is he in grade school?

“Hey,” Adam says, smiling at him and taking out his headphones. Before he can pull his phone out and pause the music, Justin thinks he catches the tune of a Backstreet Boys song.

He’s speaking before he can stop himself.

“Are you really listening to the Backstreet Boys?” Justin asks.

Adam looks him over. “I will tolerate your salmon shorts if you tolerate my nineties pop.”

“What’s wrong with my salmon shorts?” Justin asks, looking down at his legs. He thought he’d done okay as far as dressing himself went.

“Were you in a frat?” Adam asks. He sounds almost disappointed.

“Yeah,” Justin says, confused by the series of questions.

“It’s fine,” Adam says. “So where are we going?”

“There’s this pretty sweet breakfast place around the corner,” Justin says. “We could walk?”

Adam agrees and Justin tries not to be too dismayed by his salmon shorts or Adam’s question about whether or not he was in a frat. But he’s already pretty sure it’s not going to work out.

At least the coffee is good, he consoles himself as they eat breakfast. Adam wants to know how exactly Justin managed to catch his lab on fire, and Justin still doesn’t actually know what he did, so there’s nothing much he can say. His answer comes out awkward and no matter what he told Nurse and Poindexter, it’s becoming clear he actually _doesn’t_ have game. At all.  

Justin asks about any of the calls Adam had gone on besides the one to Samwell. Adam’s answers are stilted and there’s none of the cheerful flirty demeanour Adam had had at Samwell yesterday. It’s not that the conversation is bad, it’s just that there’s no spark. Like –

Like Adam is straight and Justin is a goddamn idiot.

They part ways after they eat and they don’t exchange phone numbers and Justin feels like he should probably be smacking himself in the face with something, but he refrains. He goes home and binges on some Netflix original, more than a little frustrated. He gives up around ten pm and opens Grindr because at the very least he could stand to get laid today. Granted, no one is going to be as hot as the unnecessarily hot – and regrettably straight – firefighter he had breakfast with.

He flips through the potential matches in his area, and is getting so used to swiping left that he almost swipes past the guy in the Maple Leafs jersey. It’s a stereotypical picture, only catches the guy from the mouth down. He’s got his hand up under the jersey, pushing it up to show off his abs (which Justin wants to lick) and the tattoo on his side. But either Adam Birkholtz has a doppelganger or Justin definitely knows that chin dimple. He swipes right.

Justin feels a thrill shoot through him when it’s a match. He’s only reading the profile for mere seconds ( _Adam, 31, firefighter, I can probably bench press you_ ) when a message pops up.

_Well I guess the salmon shorts were a red herring?_

Justin frowns and then has to try very hard not to laugh at the pun.

 _Did you think I was straight?_ He types.

 _Salmon short wearing fratboy? Yeah,_ Adam replies. _The LAX playing jackasses at my university were fans of the salmon shorts._

 _You did NOT just lump me in with fucking LAX bros_ , Justin protests. _So are you really a Maple Leafs fan?_

 _I’m from Buffalo, so as far as my family knows, I’m a Sabres fan,_ Adam says. _Why?_

 _I’m from Toronto,_ Justin types.

 _Maybe we should get together and discuss the problem of Niagara Falls tourists,_ Adam suggests, and Justin could cheer.

He sends Adam his address and then starts nervously cleaning his apartment. It’s a nice apartment, he’s a very well paid scientist, but he’s always been a nervous person. He’s just put the last dishes in the dishwasher when it occurs to him that maybe Adam’s going to actually want to talk about tourism.

He dives for his laptop and starts googling, actually getting pretty into it when there’s a knock on the door. He jumps and slams his laptop shut like he’s been looking at porn, and runs to the door. Adam looks less tired than he had that morning, and belatedly Justin remembers that firefighters usually work twenty-four hour shifts.

“Do you think it’s kinda weird that of the 13 million people who tour the Niagara region every year, only 12 million actually make it to the Falls?” Justin asks, because Adam looks fantastic, and he’s carrying a bottle of wine, and wearing fucking glasses because _fuck_.

Adam stares at him with a bemused expression. “You actually did research,” he says, closing the door behind him.

“I have a PhD in a hard science, I’ve done literally nothing but research for the past twelve years of my life,” Justin points out.

“That’s fair,” Adam says, setting the wine on the table. “Do you mind if I ask something?”

“Shoot,” Justin says, grabbing a corkscrew from one of his kitchen drawers. He’s not really a wine person, but March had liked wine and she’d left the corkscrew in his possession when he moved back to the east coast.

“If you’re not straight – which I’m guessing you’re not since you were on Grindr – why didn’t you ask for my number this morning?” Adam asks while Justin pours the wine.

“I thought you were straight and I was an idiot for asking you out,” Justin explains.

“Oh,” Adam says. “I kinda thought you were straight and just being nice once you turned up in salmon shorts.”

“Does it bother you that I’m still wearing them?” Justin asks.

“I mean, sure, but mostly because it means you’re wearing pants at all,” Adam replies.

And yeah, Justin knew what he was getting himself into. This was his intention for the night anyway.

“I guess you’ll just have to get me out of them,” he says with an attempt at a casual shrug. Adam grins and backs him into the wall before he kisses him.

He’s a good kisser, Justin decides, as Adam runs his tongue along Justin’s lower lip and slips it into his mouth. Justin slides his hands down Adam’s back, revelling in the firm muscle there. He untucks his shirt from his jeans and finally gets his hands on Adam’s skin, and is delighted when it sends a shiver up Adam’s spine.

Adam breaks away from his mouth to kiss down the side of his neck and start diligently sucking a hickey on the joint between Justin’s shoulder and neck. Justin can’t stop himself from imagining Adam sucking on something else and his hips buck forward on their own accord. They’re plastered together against the wall and so of course Adam feels it and he disengages from Justin’s neck with a smirk.

“Can I help you with something?” Adam asks, running his hands down Justin’s sides and hooking his fingers through Justin’s belt loops. Adam uses them to pull him forward so they’re pressed even closer together. He’s just as hard as Justin, he discovers.

“Damn right,” Justin agrees, leading the way back towards his bedroom.

Adam grins and kisses him again.

It’s pretty much a religious experience, Justin decides when he comes with his cock still in Adam’s mouth. He tells Adam as much while he deals with the condom. He has to wait until he can actually move again, but it doesn’t take too long. He’s pretty sure his bones have dissolved in the best way and fortunately it doesn’t take too much effort for him to get Adam off as well.

“So you really don’t know how you blew up your lab?” Adam asks, sprawling next to him on the bed. Justin just wants to trace all of the tattoos on Adam’s body, and can’t really stop himself from running his fingers along the dragon on his thigh.

“Nope,” Justin says because he really, really doesn’t. “Just like, professional curiosity or something?”

“Haven’t you heard? All firefighters are just pyromaniacs with a strong enough moral code to keep us from turning to arson,” Adam says. He’s grinning when Justin looks up at his face, but there’s something in his tone that makes it clear he’s also dead serious. “At least, when we’re not doing controlled burns. Those are the fucking best.”

“Controlled burns?” Justin asks.

“Oh,” Adam says. “Yeah, you can get the fire department to burn something down for you. It’s usually cheaper and more effective than hiring a demolitions crew, but we’ve got to check for asbestos and shit first.”

“That sounds awesome,” Justin says.

“Yeah, it is,” Adam agrees. “Maybe sometime you can come to one.”

“That’s a super romantic date,” Justin replies. Even he can’t tell if he means it.

Adam shrugs and rolls over to kiss him again.

Breakfast goes a lot better the second time around.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come cry with me on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com) (and bother me about the superhero AU because it helps me plan)


End file.
